Lama Zopa Rinpoche met with Kopan Nunnery’s first two geshemas in November 2016 to congratulate them—and to watch them debate philosophy. They are Geshe Namdrol Phuntsok and Geshe Jangchub Gyalmo, who graduated with their Geshe degrees in 2016 after an intense program lasting more than twenty years. Read in full …

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Practices for Rinpoche’s Health

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the extensive White Tara long life puja offered to him at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

International Office News:

Revised Protector Prayers

FPMT Education Services is pleased to release a revised collection of protector prayers as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to remove obstacles to success in practice and our activities to benefit all sentient beings. Contents include: Blessing the Offerings, Praise of Six-Arm Protector Mahakala, Torma Offering to Pälden Lhamo, and many more.

Supporting Sangha

Young monks at Idgaa Choizinling, Mongolia, enjoying daily lunch together

Supporting monks and nuns has always been one of the highest priorities for Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization, because the preservation of Buddhadharma is dependent on the existence of Sangha. The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers support to many monasteries and nunneries—and to individual monks and nuns—for food, accommodation, health care, and education and practice opportunities. Recent grants we have made from this fund have benefited the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery in Nepal and the monks of Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang in Mongolia, where we have offered the mid-day meal since 2003.

Mandala’s Newest Online Feature Stories

“The Benefits of Monasteries and Nunneries,”Mandala’s online feature story for May, explores why formal institutions for ordained Sangha are necessary, especially in this modern age. Drawing from advice given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from an essay by Ven. Tenzin Legtsok, an American monk in the geshe studies program at Sera Je Monastic University, the articles outlines how lay students and ordained alike are helped by monastic institutions.

In April, Mandala published “In the Footsteps of Atisha: A Pilgrimage to Vikramashila,” a first-person account by Annie McGhee of a visit to the ruins of the ancient Indian monastic university where Lama Atisha lived and taught. Ladakhi Lama, a former attendant of the great Khunu Lama Rinpoche, led the pilgrimage from Root Institute in Bodhgaya to Vikramashila, which along with Nalanda, was for centuries one of the most important centers of Buddhist learning.

Merit Box Grants 2017

The 2017 Merit Box grants have just been awarded! There were sixteen grants this year for projects including publication, translation, hospice care, retreat support for Sangha, building repairs for Dharma centers, and more.

Funds for all these grants came solely from the generous offerings of Merit Box practitioners and participating FPMT communities around the world! Read the full list of grants.

New Items in the Foundation Store

We’re happy to announce that a shipment of holy objects and other items to support your Dharma practice and your center’s shop has arrived in our warehouse in Portland, Oregon, USA. Please take a look at our superior incense selection, authentic ritual items, beautiful brocades and malas, and inspiring prayer flags, among other quality Buddhist accessories from Nepal.

Affiliate Area Highlights: Study Group Advice

FPMT Service Seminar News

Participants in the Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) hosted by Mahamudra Centre, New Zealand, last month. The FSS was facilitated by registered facilitators François Lecointre and Sarah Brooks. Photo by Mark Heron.

Feedback from a participant: “Wonderful. Helped refocus my mind on the purpose of FPMT and Rinpoche’s vision, and the expanse of it all. Inspire. Inform. Transmit.” Photo by Violette Pliot.

FPMT World:

Opportunities to Offer Service in FPMT

Please check out the regularly updated meritorious opportunities to offer service as a volunteer or as paid staff in FPMT centers, projects, and services around the world. Mahamudra Centre, New Zealand, has new volunteer positions available; Root Institute, India, has opened its positions for May–August; LRZTP, India, is looking for a Tibetan language teacher and a course manager.